Pillar Receives Recognition

The results from the College Media Association's Best of Collegiate Design 20 have been announced and Pillar 2011/2012 got more than a few recognitions. I have to give the majority of the credit to Editor-in-Chief Dylan Dejong, but as Assistant Editor, I'm pretty proud as well.

Here is what we were awarded:

Organizational Spread - 1st Place
Individual Spread - 1st Place
Sports Spread - 1st Place
Academic Spread - 2nd Place
Yearbook Division Spread - 1st Place
Yearbook Cover - 2nd Place

Thanks Kirk Anderson for the documentation photos!

Fall Films

I can't tell you how much I missed art this semester. Political science courses just don't fulfil me the way a good studio class can, and I've found myself searching for new outlets to satisfy my creative urges. One of these was film making. I'm not too fancy, using the record setting on my DSLR, piecing together the clips on iMovie, and adding filters on Photoshop, but I'm happy with the results and the stories I was able to communicate.

Paris: Clips I salvaged from my travel study to Paris (and London) two summer's ago.
Ottawa: An introduction to the Laurentian Leadership Centre and the people there.
Montreal: Documentation of a whirlwind road trip.
Gatineau: An update on life in the mansion at Thanksgiving time.

Alistair

Less than one week ago, a new occupant came to live in the mansion with us. Baby Allistair came a bit early, but he's so precious that we really don't mind. Today I took photos of him with his family in the mansions sun room.I'm really happy with how the photos turned out and excited to share a few of them!

Graeme + Christie

Graeme and Christie are married TWU alumni who now live and work in Ottawa. They live in the most amazing downtown apartment with old hardwood floors, antique glass doorknobs, and a wonky floor plan. They're really a great couple, not to mention excellent dinner hosts.

Dave + Amy

Dave and Amy are Trinity alumni who now live in Ottawa. They wanted photos that would remind them of this time in their lives so we set up the shoot to take place in the cities centre with views of Ottawa's landmarks in the background. 

Site Update

Today I did a little shifting around the site to add a Print section. Click the tab at the top to see photo examples of publications I've contributed to.

Stillwood Head Shots

One of my responsibilities at Stillwood was to take a staff photo of every staff member working at the camp. This doesn't sound like a big deal until you realize that there are over two hundred staff members throughout the summer and I had about thirty seconds with each subject. I'd like to think I really understand the art of portrait shooting now, at least as far as head shots go. 

Another project I took on was designing a staff camp sweater. The final product can be seen above.

 These are a few of my favourites. The camp's drive way which runs along the field is lined with huge fir trees. When the light shines through them just before sunset, they create the most gorgeous defuser and backdrop.

Stillwood Highlights

I spent all summer working as camp photographer at Stillwood Camp and Conference Centre. During this time, I took hundreds of photos to be used for promotional purposes, documentation, and to increase traffic to the camp's Facebook page. Below are a few highlights from the collection.

Ben + Andrea

I met Ben and Andrea when I was in first year of university, which happens to be the same time that they met. Looking back, I would never have guessed that I would be the one photographing their wedding. It was such an enjoyable and emotional event for everyone involved - even I was crying during the toasts! Congratulations you two!

Postcard Design

Stillwood is starting up a new leadership program next summer and needed a informational postcard made up to promote it. I was really stuck on what to do for the design, and then one morning it just seemed to flow right out of me. Guess that's how design works sometimes. 

All the photos, as well as the design, was done by moi.

The 10 Min Photo Shoot

I met these families at Stillwood over the summer. Both asked me to take a quick family portrait for them to use for Christmas cards. With busy camp schedules and squirmy, though adorable children, the goal was to make the photo session be as quick and easy as possible. So with that, I took on the 10 min photo shoot challenge and these shots are the results.

July 1st Wedding

This wedding was a joy to shoot. The wedding party was so interesting and the bride and groom had an incredibly defined style which was reflected in every aspect of their wedding day. This day was not only special because of the subjects I was shooting, but because I was second shooter for Dylan and got to tryout my 55-300mm telephoto lens for the first time.

Something New

Meet my new blog: Art + The Aerialist.

As this blog, Kat Grabowski: Art + Photography, has become devoted to being my online portfolio, I found the need to create something new to act as a more loose interpretation of my creativity. Art + The Aerialist does just that with posts about art, design, and life.

Check it out!

TWU Orchestra & Choir

This small selection of photos represent a few of my favourite shots from the TWU Orchestra and Choir concert that took place on Good Friday. I have very little previous experience with photographing concerts, so this was a really great learning experience. I've come to decide that the photographers greatest challenge is to be as inconspicuous as possible. Maybe I should invest in some camo.

Chelsea

This is Chelsea. She's my roommate and art buddy. Her mom requested head shots for grad announcements, so we went out and snapped these. I used my own camera (Nikon 3100) for the shots where she's wearing orange and my work camera (Canon 5D) for the shots that she's wearing purple, both with a 50mm lens. It's not super obvious after editing, but the 5D is just a dream to shoot with. It really makes me dream of an upgrade. 

Mouse Ears & Blue Skies

Over reading break I took a trip to LA with Taylor's family. After agonizing for days over which camera to bring along, I decided on my Holga Toy Camera loaded with cross processed colour slide film for unpredictable shots with lots of colour. I think it did a good job of capturing our experiences at In N Out Burgers, LAX, Disneyland, and LACMA.

BLOGSHOP Seattle

Founded by Bri Emery of DESIGNLOVEFEST and photographer Angela Kohler, BLOGSHOP has become a major hit in the blogging community. This weekend intensive workshop is an intro to photoshop specially catered to the design needs of the blog world. Needless to say, when I received an e-mail from Angela Thursday afternoon asking if I was interested in interning for them, I immediately cancelled all my weekend plans and booked a room in downtown Seattle. Even though I was already familiar with the techniques Bri and Angela taught, I was able to pick up some very valuable tips and tricks which I'm excited to make use of in my own design work. Whether it was the teachers, students or sponsors, everyone I interacted with had wonderful creative attitudes and amazing style. Needless to say, it was a fabulous weekend and I'm crossing my fingers BLOGSHOP comes to Vancouver next.

Olivia + Marianne

Beautiful day, fresh snow, and good friends: the perfect excuse for a photo shoot.